Snapshots
by TheseLittleWonders
Summary: A collection of drabbles exploring the character of Reyna Ramírez, including her relationships with Jason, Octavian, Hylla, and most of all, herself. Most chapters are under 500 words. Jason/Reyna. Story cover photo belongs to: andiree on tumblr.
1. Firmly Rooted

**SNAPSHOTS**

_**Firmly Rooted**  
_

_"There you are!"_

Reyna jumped at the outburst, almost dropping her book twenty feet to the ground below. She twisted around to find Jason, with one hand in his pocket and a sideways smirk as he walked over to her. "I'm pretty sure you have all of camp convinced you're secretly spying on them when you disappear like this. What are you doing up on the _roof_ of the principia?"

Reyna felt her mouth turning upwards. "I did not _disappear_, Jason. I was merely hiding in plain sight." She looked away from him and out towards New Rome. "Perspective can be a powerful thing." She felt him sit down next to her, dangling his feet over the edge of the building.

"Well, if you wanted a higher viewpoint, you could have taken Scipio out for a ride. Or you could have asked me…," Jason grinned obliquely at her again.

Her heart sped up a little at that. Reyna simply shook her head and said, "It's not the same."

They sat in silence the rest of afternoon. Reyna began reading again, and Jason admired the view of the Oakland hills framing the town and Temple Hill. When the sun began to set, he got up, lending Reyna a hand. When she took his proffered hand, he said, "You're right; this is different. I always feel calmer in the air, but sometimes, I feel like I could fly away forever."

Reyna looked at him thoughtfully but didn't interrupt. "But here," Jason continued, his gaze far-off, "I feel…grounded. Like I'm still connected to the world, too. That's what you meant, isn't it?"

Her smile was answer enough.

_As the wind blew her cape about her, Reyna could almost imagine that he was here with her, above the world and alone with the stars._

**_A/N: If something touched your heart, or you just liked it, please review! Thanks!_**


	2. Differences of Opinion

**SNAPSHOTS**

**_Differences of Opinion_ **

Reyna trudged up Temple Hill. It had been another busy and tiring week of training since Jason's disappearance. She found Octavian sharpening his knife under Jupiter's great statue. "Any signs from the auguries?" she called as she neared him.

He didn't seem surprised to see her. And why should he be? She had been coming here every week for the past two months for any news related to Jason's disappearance. Without pause, Octavian replied, "None." He hesitated for a moment before looking up at her. "It's been two months, praetor. Perhaps we should stop look-"

Reyna was no longer interested in hearing anything else. She turned on her heel and began to leave.

Octavian raised his voice and suggested, "The future of this camp stands in the balance, Reyna! It has only been a few months since the Titan War. What if there should be another threat? With only one praetor…"

Reyna spun around to face him and replied with a hard edge to her voice, "Without conclusive evidence, I refuse to believe that Jason Grace is _dead_." She stepped closer to the augur and said, "The gods have their ways, and they do not always make their reasons clear to mortals, Octavian." She glanced away from him at the altar lined with wisps of cotton and disconnected limbs of stuffed animals. Leveling him with a stare, she finished, "I should think you of all people know that."

She felt a little mollified at the bright red tinge at the tips of his ears. She warned him, "And I would appreciate it if my augur did not question his praetor's decisions so publicly. Outright insubordination does not help your cause, centurion." With that final comment, Reyna strolled regally out of the temple, leaving the augur gripping his knife with indignation.

_A/N: Thank you for reading! Please leave your comments by reviewing below! I'm still getting the hang of publishing on FFnet, so please let me know if there are any formatting issues.  
_


	3. Incarnations

**SNAPSHOTS**

**A/N:** _In honor of Percy Jackson's birthday, I finally decided to publish something…_

_Incarnations_

Stern. Hard. Warrior. Praetor. These were the words New Romans and legionnaires used to describe Reyna. To them, she was strong and inaccessible. Their courageous leader who put the safety of civilians and the training of soldiers above everything else. But the Reyna they saw was not the Reyna she was. It was the Reyna she had become, the Reyna she had turned herself into when she woke up one day to the awful realization that she was completely alone. But the Reyna of old, the Reyna who began each day peacefully and confidently because she had a friend, a partner, a confidante, was locked away inside. Hidden away with her was the Reyna of older still, the clever and inquisitive girl who had devoured volumes of knowledge in Circe's massive library. Apart from them, with her knees tucked into her chest, sat the youngest, and also the oldest Reyna of all, the bright and carefree child who played hopscotch on lazy afternoons in San Juan and eagerly anticipated her father's homecoming. These were the Reynas she kept tucked away. The Reynas that no longer existed anywhere but in her soul. The Reynas that were too dangerous to let out.


	4. Fly Free

**SNAPSHOTS**

**_Fly Free_**

_Ding. Dong. Ding. _ The clock tower in New Rome struck 10:00pm. Reyna knew this instinctively from her seat in the principia, four miles away, as she had been counting the bell tolls every hour since 5:00 in the afternoon. Every hour, she simultaneously sighed and had a mini panic-moment as she realized she had only accomplished a miniscule amount of paperwork. Every hour, on the hour, she had the urge to slice the reams of paper on the table to shreds and pour them out the window like white confetti. And yet, every hour, she had resisted that urge. She had, instead, told herself _No, that's just exhaustion. You just need a little break_.

But now that it was 10:00, the official curfew for Camp Jupiter, she allowed herself to leave her desk and all that paperwork behind for some other day. After she turned off all the lights and locked the building, she made her way slowly towards home. Her mind must have been wandering because she found herself pulling aside the door to the stables. Before she knew it, her purple praetor's cape was falling to the ground, and she was reaching out to stroke Scipio's neck, resting her head against his rump.

A loyal pegasus, Scipio did not make a sound as his owner led him quietly out of the stables and into the breezy night air. The pair took off at a canter, then a run across the Field of Mars. Reyna's stomach flipped when Scipio took to the skies, and she felt herself leaving her anxieties behind.

Reyna loved to fly. Everything about her life felt more distant and less bothersome in the air. She didn't have to be a praetor. She didn't have to be a daughter of Bellona. She could just be a girl, a person, and live in the moment. Feel the cool wind setting off goosebumps along her arms. See the glow of San Francisco across the bay. Smell the salty sea air that blew from the Pacific. Taste the freedom of being untethered to her responsibilities. She could simply _be_.


	5. Collage

_Disclaimer__: The characters of the Heroes of Olympus series belong to Rick Riordan.  
_

**_Collage_**

_Morning_

Fresh cup of coffee, smell wafting outside

Snat-ches-of-radio-talk-show-

(_many snoozes_)

_~~~Reveille~~_~

_Hurriedfeet_, **shlffude ramor**, ROLL CALL

Flashing grin | swishing hair

- Up

- dates,

- To-do

- lists

TRAINING MARCH...

* * *

_Afternoon_

Rich mauve drapes pulled aside,

Afternoon sunlight _glinting_ off **gold**.

Scattered jellybeans & disheveled papers,

Forgotten cups of chocolate, once **warm**.

Single violet robe hanging haphazardly,

Dog bowls half-filled with **VISCOUS, black** fluid.

* * *

_Evening_

~C~o~o~l ~b~r~e~e~z~e~s and high ALTITUDES

~~Borne on~~

~Beast and air~

- Community projects check - [Terminus!] - about face

Temple vista: heads bent/hands clasped,_ Mother/Father…_

Splashing fountain to hall bustling with **RANKS**.

* * *

_Night_

Soft moonlace *_shining_* on the doorstep,

Clock of shifting clouds in the entryway.

- Working dinner (_or is it late lunch_?) **-BREAK-**

For dessert: -mint-chocolate-chip- \/ _tutti-frutti_

_{neverending disagreements_ (?), _teases_ (..), _SMILES AND LAUGHTER _(!)}

W-r-o-u-g-h-t- i-r-o-n-s-w-i-n-g holds

Boy | girl

Left | right

Open | closed

Welcoming MOON with small talk,

Y-A-W-N-S _i-n-t-e-r-s-p-e-r-s-e-d_.

Good night.

* * *

**A/N:  
**Wow. That took a while. It's the first time I've ever written a free-verse poem like this, with specific formatting and everything. (I was inspired by other authors on this site.)

I don't know if the idea came across well enough, so I'll explain it here: the poem is meant to show evidence of the Jason-Reyna praetor partnership by showing snippets of their everyday life in Camp Jupiter. A professor I once had researches how people's spaces (room, house, office, etc) reflect their personality, so I was also inspired by that to think about what kinds of artifacts Jason or Reyna would keep with them and how they would utilize their space. Example: "Single violet robe hanging haphazardly" refers to Jason, since I imagine Reyna would wear hers all the time. Example: "Forgotten cups of chocolate, once warm" refers to Reyna's hot chocolate, obviously.

Please review and let me know if you understood it before or after the explanation! (haha) Thank you!


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